The next level: It's time to rise and shine

UCF groundskeeper Josh Dubbs paints the field at Bright House Networks Stadium in the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday, Sept. 12 for the Sept. 15 stadium opener against Texas.

UCF groundskeeper Josh Dubbs paints the field at Bright House Networks Stadium in the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday, Sept. 12 for the Sept. 15 stadium opener against Texas. (RED HUBER, ORLANDO SENTINEL)

Kyle HightowerSentinel Staff Writer

From the time it played its first football game on a muddy field at Saint Leo University in 1979, UCF has straddled the line between what its football program is and what it could be.

UCF often has been described as a football program on the rise because of its location in the middle of a talent-rich area, its huge ambitions and its enrollment of more than 45,000 students. All of that talk, though, has centered on potential rather than what the Knights actually have accomplished on the field.

Saturday, that begins to change when UCF plays host to the Texas Longhorns for the opening of Bright House Networks Stadium. The university now will have a $54 million-plus on-campus stadium that seats more than 45,000 people to go with new training facilities, a high-priced coaching staff and an affiliation with Conference USA that gives UCF televison exposure and access to multiple bowl games.

The focus now shifts from promise to performance. "The sleeping giant has to wake up at some point," UCF Coach George O'Leary said.

Millions of dollars will have been pumped into a program that to this point has not a single conference championship or bowl victory to its credit.

It's fair to ask when there will be a payoff for all this investment.

UCF Athletic Director Keith Tribble could see the future as he stood in the press box overlooking N.C. State's Carter-Finley Stadium before the Sept. 1 game. In a few hours, the Knights would take their first victory over a Bowl Championship Series-conference opponent in the O'Leary era. Tribble was fixated on what he saw outside the stadium, though.

Gazing over a virtual logjam of tents, vehicles and fans, Tribble saw the kind of college football atmosphere that could help UCF move beyond "the school with potential" to become the one that realized it.

"It's definitely the kind of excitement around a stadium that you want to see," Tribble said. "And definitely something we want to duplicate having an on-campus stadium now in our case. There [were] people I'm sure who've been [there] since 7 o'clock in the morning, that have their tents up, have the tailgating going. It's just excitement. And that's what we want to do. We look forward to doing that."

UCF struggled to sprout roots playing its home football games in the 70,000-seat Florida Citrus Bowl. Located more than 15 miles from UCF's campus, the Knights' fan base was never consistent there.

Heading into the 2005 season, its first year in Conference USA, UCF had only 9,872 season-ticket holders. With the opening of the new stadium, that number has jumped to 24,000 heading into Saturday's opener -- a school record.

When O'Leary took the job in 2004, he said the two biggest selling points were the commitment from the administration -- led by then-athletic director Steve Orsini, UCF Board of Directors Chairman Dick Nunis and President John Hitt -- and the fact that he viewed UCF as a "sleeping giant."

O'Leary said a key part of turning potential into true tradition starts with building a sense of place.

"I think fans have something to come back to now," O'Leary said last month. "A new stadium can't win you football games by itself. But what it can do is generate some excitement and give fans a true sense of place and something to come back to. It just shows the commitment that Dr. Hitt and the administration have to football and supporting the athletics program at UCF."

O'Leary said UCF's transformation now must be completed by winning.

"I think all the pieces are in place right now, and I think the rest is up to the players and coaches to start getting things done the way when I initially got here, [I] said it should be done," O'Leary said. "We want to be a top program. And to be a top program, you've got to start winning. Year 4, I think you want to be vying for championships. That's why you coach them, and that's why they're playing."

It's a view that has trickled down to his players as well.

"[O'Leary] works hard to get us what we need, and I feel just like him, it's time for us to start winning," junior tailback Kevin Smith said. "When the Bright House [Networks Stadium] gets packed, it's time to give them what they came for. They didn't come to pack the Bright House to be disappointed. I could see if it was impossible. But it's not impossible. It's critical."

Former Edgewater High, UCF standout and 2007 NFL draft pick Mike Walker said he expects the change to come sooner. "The whole mentality around there is different now," Walker said. "You can tell that people believe in the program now and are doing what it takes to support it."

When Walker was a freshman in 2003, the Knights were celebrating the opening of the team's indoor practice facility -- the first such facility in the state. He said it's hard to fathom how quickly UCF has moved from that.

"Amazing is the only way you can describe it," Walker said.

ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso said he thinks the new stadium is only the first step in UCF's growth process.

"It's huge for them," Corso said. "But I think bigger is the mentality that is going on at that place. I know great football coaches, and they've got one in George O'Leary. This is just another piece for him to work with in building up his football team."